The prevalence of diabetes (type 1 and type 2, diagnosed and undiagnosed) has been steadily increasing over the past 20 years. It affected 537 million people worldwide in 2021, 4.5 million in France. One in ten adults could be affected by 2045, according to the International Diabetes Federation. Diabetes can be a serious disease that causes complications if left untreated, and kills nearly 2 million people annually. Diabetes mellitus corresponds to a prolonged rise in the concentration of glucose in the blood. In the case of type 1 diabetes, this disorder is caused by a lack of insulin production. While type 2 diabetes is associated with a poor use of insulin by the body.
In France, the prevalence of diabetes increased from 4.6% in 2012 to 5.3% in 2020, more than 3.5 million people treated with medication, according to the Weekly Epidemiological Bulletin (BEH) of Public Health in France (SPF) in November 2021, based on Based on data from Medicare, 850,000 of them were treated with insulin. Added to these numbers are people who have been identified but have not been treated or who do not know each other. SPF adds that the disease is more common among the most socially and economically disadvantaged people.
Type 2 diabetes is the most common (90%). The prevalence increases by 2.5% to 3% each year, due to an aging population. It is often associated with changes in lifestyle, rich or unbalanced diet, and lack of physical activity. Thus, there is more and more among children, teens and young adults due to obesity.
epigenetic factors
For type 1 diabetes, about 225,000 people are affected in France. It has been increasing around 4.5% annually for the past 10 years. 2,500 people are diagnosed each year, most of them children or young adults, according to the UK Department of Health. « L’enjeu du diagnostic reste majeur, il faut être vigilant sur les symptômes annonciateurs de la maladie, quand l’enfant se remet à faire pipi au lit, a des urines fréquentes, boit beaucoup car encore auéjourte so’ivent Too late “, Karen Cholow, of the Association for Helping Young Diabetics (AJD), insists.
If the reasons for this increase are not very clear, Several genetic environmental factors [déterminants de santé et perturbateurs endocriniens] can you explain that”points to Jean-Francois Thibaut, vice president of the French Diabetics Federation. “There is an explanation that holds the rope at the moment: some have put forward the hygienist’s hypothesis, that a very sterile environment would make the immune system less severe,” Says Jean-Pierre Rivlin, head of the University Center for Diabetes and its Complications (CUDC) at Hospital de la Répoisiere (APHP). Studies have also suggested a role for viral infections in the occurrence of type 1 diabetes, such as the Coxsackie virus B.